Working Smarter, Not Harder: To Scale Effectively, Startups Need to Focus on Logistics Less

When it comes to your logistics operations, the less you do, the better off you’ll be. It sounds like a contradiction, but it might just be the thing that saves your startup from becoming one of 90% that self-destruct.

Yes, your supply chain may be the backbone of your business. And yes, logistics may play a crucial factor in meeting your scaling goals. But that doesn’t mean you need to put more effort into managing that side of your business.

The truth is, the more time and effort you put into managing your supply chain, the harder it will be to scale. Here’s why taking the “less is more” approach to your supply chain can help you get more out of your startup in less time.

As your business grows, so does the complexity of your supply chain. More pieces coming in, more things going out, more markets penetrated. If those markets are international, you have a whole new set of issues to worry about—from language barriers to local customs rules and regulations.

Without a strategic plan in place to scale and develop your supply chain at the same pace as your company scales, it can become the roadblock that holds all other growth back.

This leaves you with a couple of choices. Hire a skilled supply chain specialist—which comes hand in hand with a whole host of extra costs, like sourcing fees and a competitive compensation package—or lean on an expert logistics partner to handle the heavy lifting for you.

The worst thing you can do is put more of your own time and effort into managing it when you could be focusing on other things. Because make no mistake: if you go it alone, your supply chain will become unsustainable—and when it does, it could bring everything else toppling down with it.

The DIY approach: saving money or burning resources?

It’s natural for startups to want to keep as many operations in-house as possible, especially in the early years. The assumption is that managing your supply chain yourself is an obvious cost-saver—why pay someone else to do what you can do yourself, right?

There are plenty of instances where a DIY approach can save you serious dollars. But logistics just isn’t one of them. From time spent finding suitable carriers to the inefficiencies inevitably caused by lack of experience, your supply chain can quickly drain your resources and eat into your profit margins.

By partnering with an experienced, trusted logistics company, you can take advantage of technology, resources, and relationships that put money back into your bottom line—while making your life easier. An expert logistics partner may, for example, give you more visibility into all your moving parts, so you can spot where costly bottlenecks lie—before they bring everything to a grinding halt.